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Thursday, December 9, 2010

"Christian"

Doesn't that title just really annoy you? It really toys with my emotions when I see people put the quotation marks around the word Christian. They even do air quotes now when they're speaking. The conversation looks something like this

Girl A: Hey do you know insert name here?
Girl B: Yeah, what about her.
Girl A: Well she's a "Christian" but she fill in the sin here.

This just burns me up! But what really upsets me is the fact that I completely understand where they are coming from. I try to really fight for my brothers and sisters in the faith. I have always hated the quotation marks because they indicate that there is something misleading about the Christian title. I could never understand the debate. I would always argue, that either you believe in Christ or you don't, and if you believe you're a Christian--case closed. But the bible says that even the demons believe (James 2:19, Luke 8:28). The bible says a tree is identified by it's fruit (Matthew 12:33). So how can we call ourselves Christians and we aren't following Christ? I realize now that it does me no good to get upset with the unbeliever that uses the quotation marks, I should instead look to the believer that causes them to be used.

I realize that we all make mistakes; nobody's perfect. But we have to quit using grace as a get out of Hell free card. It confuses others and it kills our testimony. Our lives could be the reason that someone else refuses to believe. Are we really ready to stand in front of God and explain that?